Vertical integration ‘not what it is cracked up to be’, says Blood

<p>As befits a major transport conference, speakers at AusIntermodal were forthright in getting their points across &#8211 to their Langham Hotel audience and beyond.</p> <p>P&#38O Australia chief executive Tim Blood, no stranger to plain speaking, addressed an array of issues of the moment, be it vertical integration being &#8220not what it is cracked up to be&#8221 or describing the idea that stevedores could disadvantage customers to support their own firms as &#8220misleading&#8221.</p> <p>Given Australian Competition and Consumer Commission interest in the waterfront, he said it was the most transparent and monitored sector in the country. </p> <p>Mr Blood said the ACCC was guilty of straying from the facts and relying on the anecdotal.</p> <p>Given that states would retain planning regimes and would not give up revenues, it was &#8220regrettable that ports had become a state and federal political football&#8221, he said. </p> <p>Both Sydney Ports Corp chief executive Greg Martin and Mr Blood laid congestion issues at the feet of the trucking industry, while Mr Martin saw Saturdays, at 10% of the week’s business, becoming a normal day of work for drivers.</p> <p>Into the future, Mr Martin highlighted a plan for a $2.4bn &#8220Port Botany to Enfield Corridor&#8221 that might replicate the Alameida Corridor rail and truck link in Los Angeles and cut a two and a half hour trip to 40 minutes.</p> <p>Mr Martin also said it was certain that Newcastle would become the next New South Wales container port when Port Botany became saturated.</p> <p>National Transport Commission package director Phil Giltinan sought to deflate those who saw rail as a panacea to the country’s freight woes, saying road would always be dominant because of its flexibility.</p> <br />